Hidden
by Black-Inque2002
Summary: Because the secrets we keep can have the most devastating consequences. Formerly called "The Hyacinth".


Hidden

AN: I've decided make my return to the Cybersix world by rewriting my earlier fanfiction. After reading it again, I was apalled by my lack of skill and my inability to create an interesting original character. I hope to do better this time around and do this great show the justice it deserves.

CHAPTER ONE:

_Scribble scribble _went the chalk on the board.

The students in Mr. Adrian Siedleman's senior English class were quiet as their teacher scrawled a passage from _Crime and Punishment_ on the board, the latest novel they were being forced to dismantle for their final term paper on Russian novels in the 19th century.

Or was it symbolism in Russian novels?

Very few of them could remember, because very few of them were bothering to pay attention. Their silence was a result of boredom, daydreaming, passing notes, and a healthy dose of adolescent disinterest. These were the kids of Meridiana's working poor, and they were under no illusions that knowing anything about literature was going to score them a job in a city plagued with a rising crime rate and slim pickings in the employment department.

Well, the _legitimate _employment department.

So, most of them were content to simply let the words of Mr. Siedleman go in one ear and out the other as they thought about pursuing lifelong career as a factory worker with a little light shoplifting on the side to pay the rent. You know, nothing fancy. Just enough to skirt past the authorities, who probably could give a damn anyway because they were just as busy splitting the stolen goods they recovered.

Only one student kept her eyes trained on the chalkboard and the slim figure in front of it; studiously copying everything in her notebook. Jacinta Velasquez had always been a good student. She actually did her homework regularly and scored high marks on tests. (Except math. Numbers didn't agree with her.) She worked hard and applied herself, because she didn't want to end up like the others. She didn't want to be just another body at the bottom of the heap. She wanted make something of herself and make her mother proud.

Understandably, many of the teachers were fond of her and Adrian was no exception. In fact, Adrian had all more reason to be fond of her because Jacinta managed to keep a certain Lori Anderson from hounding him with her ridiculous crush. And to be frank, she liked him. Adrian had a certain mild-mannered, stumbling sweetness about him that made you want to be his friend. And it didn't hurt that he sometimes slipped her a few extra credit points for keeping Lori in line.

"All right,"Adrian said, turning around as he finished writing, the lenses of his large glasses flashing briefly as they caught the slanting bars of afternoon sunlight. "I realize we only have ten minutes left, but for tonight's assignment, I want you to write a breif summary about the symbolism in the passage and what you think Dostoyevsky was trying to say."

Everyone snapped to attention then, hurriedly scribbling down the passage, or at least prenteding to for the sake of looking like they were making an effort. Even Adrian wasn't naïve enough to expect that all of them would complete the assignment. The way he watched his class with a resigned look on his face said as much. Still, he continued to march on with an almost shocking determination, convinced that there had to be some way to reach his students.

Finally, the bell rang, much to the relief of both parties. Adrian returned to his desk amid the scuffling of shoes and suddenly energetic chatter of the kids to sort through his papers and shut down his computer. Jacinta, for her part, waited until most of her classmates had gone before shrugging her bag over her shoulder and flashing Adrian a grin.

"See you tomorrow, Mr. Siedleman,"she said with a little wave.

"Oh-?"Adrian jerked his head up distractedly from his computer to return her smile. "Right. See you tomorrow."

Jacinta turned and left, making her way towards her locker to get the books she needed for her homework, glad at least that she didn't have to work tonight. She had a part-time job at a neighborhood used bookstore, and while the work was pretty fun and the pocket money not that bad, she wished sometimes that it didn't take up so much of her free time. She was also busy trying to keep her grade point average up so she could apply for a scholarship that helped low-income students to get into college.

At least she didn't have it as bad as her mother, Magdalena, who had to work two jobs just to make ends meet, which was a big factor in fueling Jacinta's desire for a professional degree so she could be in a better position to help her. If she had a career with a stable income, she reasoned, her mother could finally take the rest she so deserved.

Well, there was really no point in dwelling about circumstances you couldn't change...at least not at the immediate present. If Jacinta knew anything best, it was to keep your head up and do the best you could with what you had, even if what you had was a cramped apartment, only one parent, and a circle of friends whose hobbies could be considered borderline illegal.

She stifled a yawn as she walked out the front doors, looking forward to a cup of tea when she got home. When she reached one of the lion statues that decorated the base of the entry stairs, a pair of hands suddenly sprang out from behind the sculpture and grabbed her, spinning her in a mad caper as a familiar voice gleefully cried, "Gotcha!"

Jacinta let out a startled squeak, nearly dropping her bag as she struggled to disentangle herself from her captor.

"What do you think you're doing?"she exclaimed, pressing a hand to her chest as she regained her composure.

Lori Anderson offered a mischievous grin as her reply, ever shadowed by her three thuggish lackeys Miguel, Juan, and Arturo; boys who somehow managed to stay in school despite never doing any of their assignments. Jacinta could bet that their attendance had less to do with any desire for academic success than a desire to be in Lori's immediate vicinity. She didn't even want to guess what the other girl did to inspire such devotion.

As for Lori herself, she couldn't say exactly how they had become friends. Lori was Jacinta's junior by two years, yet possessed enough wherewithal and life experiences to rival that of a thirty year old. To say she'd been through the school of hard knocks would be an understatement. She'd been dragged from town to town during tenure as an acrobat in The Argentinian National Circus, beaten by both her father and his friend, and exposed to a variety of vices that would have made her small-time pickpocket boy toys blush. Eventually, she had to be sent to Meridiana and put in a regular school in hopes that a stationary life and a structured education would help undo the damage.

What a joke. Said sedintary lifestyle only served to bore Lori out of her mind, which was part of the reason she actively looked to get into trouble, and the supposedly structured educational institution turned out to be more cracked than a common streetwalker. Lori's free spirit simply wouldn't, and _couldn't_, settle down.

That was probably what had attracted Jacinta to her; a brash, fearless girl who had the confidence to command a group of boys twice her size, and a carefree disrespect for any authority that tried to exert its influence on her. Jacinta could have been her total inversion; a quiet, insecure thing who had had authority exterted on her far too often. Add to the fact that they both had rather unsettled home lives and were ostracized at school, and the benefit of keeping each other emotionally warm was all the more appealing. Jacinta learned to speak her mind more often, and Lori learned to...well, Lori learned to tone things down a little every now and then.

"You staying after to look for Mr. Siedleman?"Jacinta asked, feeling a little entitled to get a dig in after such an underhanded surprise.

Lori tossed her long red hair coquettishly over her shoulder.

"As tempting as that is, I'll save that for another day. I want to go to the arcade,"she said.

"Oh, well...what does that have to do with me?" Jacinta asked with a puzzled expression. "And what does that have to do with _jumping out at me _from behind statues?"

"You're coming with me. And me jumping out at you was a bonus."

"I am?"

"Yep."

"Um, you do realize that I have homework?" Jacinta said, shrugging her shoulders to indicate her bookbag and hopefully worm her way out of another spontaneous trip to the mall. Not that she didn't like hanging out with Lori, but her scholarship sat there in the back of her mind, ever keen to destroy any sense of fun with schoolastic obligations.

Lori sighed in exsasperation, rolling her eyes for an added dramatic touch.

"Oh, come _on!_ You can geek out on your homework later."

"Yeah," chimed in Arturo, the one with long, stringy brown hair and a red headscarf. "Chill, _prietita._ We won't be gone long."

Jacinta felt herself frown at that word. _Prietita_—little dark one, in obvious reference to her black hair and tawny complexion, and she didn't appreciate it even though she'd come to tolerate the nickname. So, she'd chosen a nickname for Arturo:

_"Pendejo,"_she muttered. She turned her attention back to Lori. "Fine. But only for a little while."

"See? Was that so hard?" Lori said sweetly, giving her friend a playful slap on the shoulder. "You spend too much time studying."

"You don't study at _all."_

"Pssh! Details. Now, come on! Let's get outta here!"

…...

Adrian turned off the computer montior as the machine finished powering down, turning to gather up his papers and stack them into his briefcase. A frown creased his narrow face; he had a lot on his mind, as he usually did after the school day had ended. It troubled him deeply that no matter how much effort he put into his work, he never seemed to get through to his students. They knew from the outset that the system was against them; that the dreams of any sort of higher education were far beyond what they could accomplish (and afford.) The fact that too many of the teachers that were supposed to inspire them and provide guidance had given up on them only made the situation more difficult.

That made Adrian all the more grateful for people like his colleague, Lucas Amato, who taught sophomore and junior biology. Lucas, with his easygoing manner and natural gift for making people laugh had made him one of the more popular teachers. He could roll with the punches and joke his way through a tough situation, a trait that Adrian wished he possessed. Lucas...made things _interesting. _Both in and out of the classroom, as Adrian was beginning to find.

Scooping up his briefcase, Adrian turned the lights out and locked the door. His mind fell back to Jacinta Velasquez as he shrugged his trenchcoat on. There was something...indefinable about her; a strangeness that was disturbingly familiar. It wasn't because of her desire to succeed, or that she tended to be a little quiet when she wasn't with Lori. It was those eyes...as golden as that of any treasure in El Dorado, and as curious and unnerving a feature Adrian had ever seen. Once you saw them, you never forgot them.

Strange indeed.

"Adrian!"

His head snapped to attention, jolted from his pensive musing by the sound of the aforementioned Lucas throwing him a wave and jogging down the hallway towards him, his usual jovial grin in place. How he managed to get through so many days without seeming to get the least bit stressed, Adrian would never know. Lucas always seemed to be smiling, and quite honestly, Adrian needed to see it right now.

"Oh, uh, hi Lucas!" he replied, somewhat embarrassed at being caught woolgathering. They fell into step as they made for the exit.

"So, what's on your mind?"Lucas teased.

Argh! Damn him for being so observant! Despite resembling a blond gorilla, Lucas could definitely not be called stupid. He'd known Adrian long enough by now to guess his moods, however utterly perplexing they were. Lucas couldn't count how many times his friend had suddenly remembered to attend to some important matter or other, usually in the middle of dinner at the cafe they frequented. Or how a certain word carelessly dropped could make him tense up as quickly as a gazelle having spotted a skulking lion. But Lucas had learned quickly that he was better off not pressing matters too often, and really, whatever Adrian did in his spare time was none of his business, not to mention that Lucas was too laid back to judge him for his eccentricites.

Ironically, Lucas saw Adrian more frequently than he relized, he just didn't know it.

"Ah,"Adrian replied, his fine-boned features taking on a deeply thoughtful expression. "I was just thinking about a student."

"Lori?"Lucas asked slyly, grin taking on a roguish bent. Pretty much all the teachers knew about Lori and Adrian by now.

"No, no!" Adrian exclaimed hurriedly, shaking his head as his face flushed slightly at the mention of his obsessive student. "Not Lori. Jacinta Velasquez."

"Jacinta..."Lucas paused to call up a face that went with the name. "Oh! The girl with the really interesting eye color?"

"Yeah."

"What about her? I mean, it's not like she's a problem student or anything, is she?"

Adrian shook his head again, mouth drawing itself down into an even deeper frown. "No, it's not that. She's a good kid. But, I can't help but wonder about her. She's...ah, forget it." He waved his hand, as though to brush aside all of his misgivings back under the rug. "I'm just overanalyzing things."

"Yeah, you do that a lot,"Lucas deadpanned. "Look, whatever's bothering you, I'm sure it's not a big deal. What do you say about grabbing a coffee?"

Adrian nodded, a thin smile spreading over his face. Lucas was probably right. There was nothing to worry about. He really did need to stop mulling over everything. It wasn't doing him any good. Jacinta might be an oddity, but there was nothing to suggest that she was...

"Coffee sounds great."

...

Deep in the jungles that surrounded the city of Meridiana, far removed from any path an intrepid soul might take, a castle sat, lonely and foreboding in the eternal gloom of the trees and fog. How it got there is a long and sordid tale, replete with many a dark deed. It spires twist their way above the forest canopy, reaching for the skies they cannot hope to touch. A water wheel at its base turns in its methodical labor to power the castle with electricity. It was out of place here, a relic from the darkest ages of Europe, its stony facade bedecked with all manner of ghastly demons whose gaping visages were testament to the horrors that lay within.

At the very top of the castle, in a room lit only by the sickly green glow of giant tanks of Sustenance, a man sat before an enormous computer, its screen darkened for the moment as he busily poured over printouts from his latest research, a creation he hoped would be up to the task of eliminating a certain cyber renegade that managed to foil every single weapon he'd thrown at her since learning that she had survived the demise of her brothers and sisters some twenty years prior.

_Cybersix. _

The man unconsciously ground his teeth as her name creeped unbiddedn into his mind. A dull rage tightened in his chest as he thought back to what had happened back then. How could she have escaped? Someone had to have known. Someone had to have helped her. None of the others had lived aside from Cyber 29, whose brain was currently inhabiting the body of a panther (also renegade).

He shoved his papers aside, too frustrated to concentrate on reading the results of his tests, roughly shoving his chair back as he stood. His monocole caught the light from the tanks as he turned his head towards the window, a single predatory flash in an otherwise shadowed face. He strode restlessly towards the window, gaze lost in the thick clouds that seemed to forever blanket the skies around his domain.

_ Cybersix. _

She was his greatest failure, yet also his greatest achievment. He seemed unable to match the masterpiece of genetic engineering that had been the Cyber series, no matter what he'd created since then. The rest were..._flawed. _Too simple-minded, perhaps. Too unoriginal. And time after time they'd failed him.

Even Jose.

_As I draw breath, Cybersix, I will find a way to destroy you. You cannot run from me forever. Soon enough, your life will be mine. _


End file.
